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« 2024. # 6 (180)

The Ethnology Notebooks. 2024. № 6 (180), 1678—1701

UDK 398.47-044.922(477)”2014-2024″

DOI https://doi.org/10.15407/

COMBAT WITCHES AND MILITANT MOTANKAS: NEW MEANING OF OLD TRADITIONS IN THE CONTEXT OF RUSSO-UKRAINIAN WAR

KIS Oksana

  • ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8656-9374
  • Ph.D. in History/Ethnology, Senior Scholar,
  • Institute of Ethnology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine,
  • Head of the Department of Social Anthropology,
  • 15, Svobody ave., 79000, Lviv, Ukraine,
  • Contacts: e-mail: oksanakis55@gmail.com

Abstract. The article traces the transformation of public perceptions of the witch and attitudes toward magical practices in Ukrainian society in the context of the current war.

The geographical scope of the study covers source materials and artifacts that originated and circulate mainly among Ukrainian citizens and within the territory of Ukraine.

The analysis includes various sources (visual art, internet memes, poetry, music videos, feature films, clothing design, and handicrafts) that represent contemporary ideas about witches and witchcraft, related publications in conventional media and social media, and personal testimonies of women who have adopted the identity of a «combat witch».

Based on a cross-analysis of visual and textual materials, the article shows a change in the public perception of witchcraft as a phenomenon from a predominantly negative (in traditional Ukrainian culture) to a predominantly positive (in contemporary public discourse).

The timeframe of the study covers the period of the Russian-Ukrainian war of 2014—2024, with special attention to the period of full-scale aggression from February 24, 2022 to the present.

The study shows that in the present-day public discourse, witchcraft is perceived as a specifically female resource that Ukrainian women can use as a defense for their families or a weapon against the enemy.

The author claims that the growing popularity of the image of a «combat witch» and magical «motanka» is a manifestation of magical thinking activated by the war, serving as an additional re-source of emotional stability for women and society as a whole.

Keywords: combat witch, motanka, magic thinking, russo-Ukrainian war, tradition.

Received 16..11.2024

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